Tasks to do after the wedding

You may have dreams of jetting off on honeymoon the morning after your wedding, but there are still practical things that you’ll have to sort out after the wedding. Some of these tasks you’ll be able to delegate, and some you may need to do yourself. Here are some of the things you’ll need to take into consideration…

To delegate

Clear up at the venue and return items. Ask your wedding coordinator or one of the bridal party to do a last-minute sweep of the venue to be sure nothing was left behind. This is also the time to ensure that you have any hired items (such as vases from your florist) packed away ready to be collected or shipped back to suppliers.

Collect the wedding gifts and cards. Your gifts and cards may have been stored in a secure location at your venue, so if you haven’t already, ask someone you trust to collect them for you.

Give away flowers to guests. Immediately after the wedding, it’s nice to give away floral decorations and centrepieces to guests – they’ll just be wasted otherwise! This is a good task for one of the mothers to keep an eye on.

Return hired menswear. Ask the best man or one of the fathers to organise the collection of all the men’s suits and accessories (you might want to check them all off on a checklist!) and return them to your hire supplier.

Drop off the wedding dress for dry cleaning. If you’re heading off on honeymoon quickly, you may want to delegate dry-cleaning the dress, as the quicker you get it cleaned the less likely it is to stain.

To do yourself

Pack for the honeymoon. This is pretty self-explanatory, but depending on how quickly you’re jetting off, you might want to pre-pack a bag and leave it in your accommodation, ready to take with you the day after the wedding.

Open your gifts and write your thank you cards. One super useful tip we hear from brides is to write your thank you cards as you open your cards and presents so that you can’t lose track of who got you what.

Change your name. One thing to bear in mind when deciding when to legally change your name is the name you’ve booked your honeymoon in. If your passport doesn’t match up with the name you booked your honeymoon under, then you won’t be able to fly!

Order your wedding album. Once your wedding photos come in, we recommend putting together a couple of printed albums – one for you, and one each for the sets of parents!